Over 4,800 fair price shops renovated so far, says Radhakrishnan

MADURAI As many as 4,845 fair price shops had been renovated through the ‘Namma Pagudhi, Namma Nyay

As many as 4,845 fair price shops had been renovated through the ‘Namma Pagudhi, Namma Nyaya Vilai Kadai‘ initiative out of the total 35,595 fair price shops functioning in the State, said J. Radhakrishnan, Principal Secretary, Department of Co-operation, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection, on Friday.

He was speaking to reporters after inspecting the renovated Pandian Cooperative Supermarket in Madurai. It has been planned to set up a total of 3,504 Direct Purchase Centres (DPCs) at State-level and 1,367 DPCs are currently functioning. He assured that steps would be taken to set up more DPCs as per requirement, he added.

Speaking of loans being provided to farmers through the Cooperative Department, he said that agricultural loans to 14.61 lakh farmers had been disbursed ₹11,223 crore so far in the current financial year. In the last financial year, 14.84 lakh farmers received loan assistance worth ₹10,292 crore, he added.

Mr. Radhakrishnan said over 2.59 lakh new members have been registered in the co-operative societies, out of which, loan assistance to a tune of ₹1,417.12 crore had been disbursed to 2.08 lakh members.

He added that 9,62,327 metric tonnes of paddy was procured from 1,41,302 farmers through DPCs during the current procurement season, and ₹1,967.94 crore was disbursed as sales proceeds to farmers.

“We are expecting a good harvest across the State during the upcoming samba season despite challenges. We expect the procurement of paddy to go up to 30,000 tonnes per day from 17,000 tonnes per day,” he said.

“As per Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s directions to avoid storing the paddy under tarpaulin sheds, over 200 semi-covered sheds in 20 locations in the State with a capacity to safeguard 2.86 lakh metric tonnes of paddy have been planned, out of which 160 sheds are ready for use,” said Mr. Radhakrishnan.